Slow Backups

[Daryl_St_Amand]

Before I start, here's the network & system setup/config.

Backup Server:

OS: Win2k3 R2
CPU: 3 GHZ Xeon
Memory: 1GB
local disks: 2x74GB in a raid 0
SCSI: Adaptec 29160
Backup system: Exabyte Magnum 1x7 LTO3
Backup Software: BackupExec 9.1 with latest releases.

Problem:

We just finished installing a new exabyte magnum 1x7. The old system was a Spectra 215 AIT2 library.

Unfortunately, we are getting slow speeds backing up via the network. I am ranging from 48MB/min backing up from our Exchange 2003 system, to mostly 200-300MB/min backing up from a mixture of Win2k and Win2k3 servers. The fast I've managed to receive is 400MB/min from our Windows Storage Server.

These are the same speeds we were getting on the old Spectra library. At the moment, our backups run 22+ hours.

The network is running a mixture of Gigabit and Fast Ethernet. And I've tested file transfer to and from the host system and managed to get 780MB/min.

Any ideas or suggestions?

[Ajit_Kulkarni]

Hello,

As mentioned by you, while backing up the Exchange server, the backup rate is slow. So, I would like to know at what time the backup runs ?

As a test, have you tried taking backup on a hard disk and checked the result ?
If not, then you may take and verify.

You can create seperate backup jobs for each server and check its speed.
This will help us to isolate the slow backup issue.

Kindly update.


Regards

NOTE : If we do not receive your reply within two business days, this post would be marked "assumed answered" and would be moved to "answered questions" pool.

[Daryl_St_Amand]

The exchange backup runs from 5:30pm to 11:30pm each night. I have made sure that the exchange maintenance settings are not during this time period.

Here is the list of everything I've tried:

First the backup server was on an advantech PC (Intel P4, 2.4GHZ, 2556MB RAM, Win2k SP4 Server), which the exabyte did not like at all, then I moved Veritas and the exabyte to the current hardware.

I made sure all the hardd drives n all the servers were defragmented and error free.

Moved the backup servers and mst of the other servers from Fast Ethernet over to Gigabit Ethernet

I FTP'd a bunch of large files from one server to the backup server and received an excellent transfer rate.

I changed the buffer size from 64K to 128K, block size cannot go higher then 64k.

I've removed the network settings from auto to 100MB-full and even 1000MB-full

My backup speed on mst servers starts at 1 Gig/min then drops to 470MB/min and thn to 200MB/min.

I am using AOFO.

The slow speeds are all around. No one server isn't that muuch slower or fastter thenn the other. Even one of our newer servers (Windows Storage Server) is running 120MB/min off of the C drive, and the RAID 5 array runs at 250MB/min

*EDIT* I've tried the "backup to disk" folder, turned off the compression and I get 700-1500MB/min
Message was edited by:
Daryl St AmandMessage was edited by:
Daryl St Amand

[Daryl_St_Amand]

I thought I was getting high enough of a transfer rate on the backup to disk.

So, I moved BackupExec and the hardware to our storage Server (the Exabyte is still running on it's own Adaptec 29160 (Non-RAID)). In the hopes to backup all the servers to disk then throw the files on tape.

What a nightmare this has become.

I am getting at most 24-48MB/sec.

Nothing is running in the background, I've shutdown pretty much all non-essential services.

[priya_khire]

Hello Daryl,

Are you using a Gigabit network adapter? If yes, you can change the following setting in it: there are two functions on the Gigabit card that should be turned off, to improve the performance.

lsattr -El entX
shows a field large_send and chcksum_offload. Set them to No.

ifconfig enX down detach
chdev -l entX -a large_send=no
chdev -l entX -a chcksum_offload=no
chdev -l enX -a state=up

Retest the backups after the change.

What are the backup selections? Also ensure that you have the latest SP for BE 9.1: http://support.veritas.com/docs/280008

Also refer to the technote below:
http://support.veritas.com/docs/249090

Note : If we do not receive your reply within two business days, this post would be marked �assumed answered� and would be moved to �answered questions� pool.

Regards.